This is for all the shoegazy kids, just in time for your weekend . Clustersun are into washy loud shoegazey reverberations, walls of sound, cold wave atmospheres, psychedelic journeys, and crystal clear dreamy melodies. They were formed in Catania (on the island of Sicily in Italy), and have been making noise together since the beginning of 2013. Their first self-produced single “Be Vegetal”, was included in the CD Summer Sampler 2013, published by U.S. label Custom Made Music. They subsequently signed to Italian label Seahorse Recordings to release their debut album “Out Of Your Ego” in April 2013. The first single chosen from the album, “Hipgnosis”, reveals the band signature sound: hypnotic-obsessive bass lines, dark and cold drum patterns, strongly expressive guitar spanning from an ambient ethereal mood to fuzz-and-reverb madness, fat analog synths and dreamy melodies. Give a listen today to Clustersun and don’t forget to turn it up…..
Hi, our band is….
CLUSTERSUN
We are
Marco Chisari (lead vocals & bass), Mario Lo Faro (guitars), Piergiorgio Campione (keys, synths & backing vocals), Andrea Conti (drums)
Our sound is…...
full of shoegazey reverberations and walls of sound, cold wave soundscapes and psychedelic journeys, all surrounding crystal clear dreamy melodies
We are from…….
Italy, and hour hometown is Catania, a lovely city on the eastern coast of Sicily, that sits at the feet of Mount Etna (Europe’s highest active volcano) watching Ionian Sea.
Tell us about your latest LP
Our first album “Out Of Your Ego” came out in April 2014 for Italian indie label Seahorse Recordings. It features 8 tracks drenched with hypnotic-obsessive bass lines, dark and cold drum pattern, guitars that go form ambient ethereal mood to fuzz-and-reverb madness, fat analog synths and dreamy melodies. “Out Of Your Ego”, was recorded, mixed and produced by Paolo Messereat Eye & Ear Multimedia Studio in Fiumedinisi, Italy, with sound engineer Giuseppe Barbera. Mastering provided by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering, Chicago. Front cover and all artwork was conceived and shooted by the young and extrememly talented Brooke DiDonato, fine art photographer in NYC. We’ve been so happy and pleased by the great feedback for the album, in Italy and abroad, and all this gave us the chance to tour in the US a few months ago. The first single extracted “Hipgnosis” was also featured in “REVOLUTION – The Shoegaze Revival” massive international compilation (30 tracks from bands by 16 countries worldwide), out on February 11th 2015 for Raphalite Records (UK) and Gerpfast Kolektif (Indonesia). The second single “Floating” was included in “Rock Back For Nepal”, a stunning 3-volume charity compilation curated by Philadelphia-based label Patetico Recordings and promoted by Shameless Promotion PR to help raise money for the Nepal Relief Fund.
Who are some artists who have influenced you?
Hundreds of name come to mind: Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Swervedriver, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division, New Order, The Cure, Lush, The sound, Swans, Neu!, Can, PIL, Bauhaus, Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, Loop, Pale Saints… More recently A Place To Bury Strangers, The Soft Moon, The XX, DIIV, Black Angels, The Oscillation, Ringo Deathstarr, Hookworms, The Raveonettes, ThePains Of Being Pure At Heart… we could go on for ages! But everything for us started with Pink Floyd, Beatles and Velvet Underground when we were kids.
How old were each of you when you started to play music and who plays what?
We are all self-taught musicians and started to scratch our bedroom walls with unconventionally loud volumes at late teen age
Can you tell us about the process you use, from writing the songs all the way through to releasing them?
All our songs come out from long, trippy and free jamming during rehearsals. We record every session so that we can later listen to it and find if there’s something good to develop. Sometimes a song pops out almost complete and structured from these improvisations. At other times we isolate a single riff or section, a melody, a sound, a noise, everything that seems interesting and then we try to expand it into a more complete form We consider this kind of approach crucial to keep songwriting at the most spontaneous, authentic and genuine level. Lyrics come at last, when the musical structure is defined, and are tailored upon it with a great focus on abstract and dreamy thematics. We tend now to record tracks at our own studio, while for mix and mastering we prefer to rely on pro personnel.
Tell us about your recent U.S. East Coast / New England tour…
It was the best experience of our entire life, on both musical and human side. With the amazing support of american indie label Custom Made Music and its boss, the great Dave Allison, we toured for a couple of weeks in the U.S., Northern-Eastern area, playing three times in NYC, then Boston MA, Philadelphia PA, Lancaster PA, Bethlehem PA, Poughkeepsie NY, Lowell MA. We had the chance to play in supercool venues and the honour to share the stage with stunning bands like Lazy Queen, Toy Cannons, Dead Scouts, Panophonic (solo act by our brother Tom Lugo of Patetico Recordings), The One2s, Allora Mis, Overfield, Arlen, Big Mess and many others. Things went so well that we’re yet a planning our comeback in late 2016, touring in more states and for a longer time: we can’t ask for nothing better and more exciting!
What are some of the challenges you face as a musician and how have you overcome those challenges?
One of the toughest challenges now is surely conquering your own space in a musical scene that is full of acts, often great ones, and trying to emerge. What we try to do is:
1. Making the best music we can
2. Communicate and share everything with fans and supporters
3. Playing live until death
1st rock concert you went to and age….
R.E.M./Radiohead/Flor live in our hometown Catania, August 6th 1995: a gig/event that we’ll never forget, we were 16yo! It was the only italian date that year for the band of Athens, they were in tour for “Monster”, but the main goal was Radiohead opening a few months after releasing “The Bends”: their set was really mind-blowing!
Coolest band t-shirt you ever bought…
MARCO: Lowline, amazing post-punk band from Manchester (UK)
MARIO: Skip Skip Ben Ben, top notch shoegazers from Taipei
PIERGIORGIO: It’s not a band but there’s nothing cooler than a “Cats On Synthesizers In Space” t-shirt!
ANDREA: The Soft Moon
The most insane concert you ever went to or were a part of….
A Place To Bury Strangers and Swans: the loudest gigs ever!
If you could open for any band/ artist right now who would that be and why?
Slowdive, the band that has always inspired us most. Ok, ok… the true reason is because we are all desperately in love with Rachel Goswell 😀
My youngest son is 13 and in a band. What advice would you offer him? …
Play as much and as loud as you can. Spend time to develop the strongest connection/interaction with your bandmates: play, think, act like you all are one, and not just a bunch of people incidentally playing in the same place. It’s what the jazz players call “interplay”.
Your thoughts on the state of rock ‘n’ roll in 2015…..
Only positive thoughts: many bands and so much great music to discover everyday. We’re definitely more worried about the state of the audience.
Any bands you recommend we add to our playlists?
So many: Ummagma, Sounds Of Sputnik, Stellarscope, Panophonic, Wozniak, Lights That Change, Maff, Jaguwar, Stella Diana, Rev Rev Rev, La Casa Al Mare, Novanta, In Her Eye, My Invisible Friend, Electric Floor, Weird, A Copy For Collapse, Geometric Vision, Grass On The Sun, A Modern Way To Die, Parbat, Kimono Lights, Klam, 86sandals, Good Morning Finch, Be Strass… we could go on for years and surely we forgot someone we love!
Any cool labels we should check out?
We strongly recommend to discover the treasures of Italians labels Seahorse Recordings and Lady Sometimes Records, of American labels Custom Made Music and Patetico Recordings and to keep an eye to the new born Raphalite Records, based in Wales (UK) and Ontario (Canada), that is yet establishing as a new driving force in shoegaze/dreampop area.
What are your plans for the rest of 2015?…..
Happy to announce that we are starting the recordings for our sophomore album, to release in 2016, so this final part of the year will be focused on studio. But we’ll keep doing spare dates in Italy and Europe, according to our studio schedule
